Thursday, October 14, 2010

Tinder Hearth Bakery and Hurricane Island

This week's update! Here's the basic story ....

I've taken up temporary residence at the Tinder Hearth Bakery in Brooksville, Maine. I happened upon the place after too many people mentioned it for me to not go. And sure enough, these folks are for real. Baking bread, growing food, playing music and hosting open mics, building community inside and out .... I offered to help out with things for a day or two, and it turned out that for the weekend a bunch of people were sailing out to Hurricane Island for a work party celebration. Sounded too good to miss!

We showed up at the marina, and gathered a force of 29 people and 4 sailboats. Bakery folks, boat shop apprentices, 4 captains, Portlandites, and nature education center staff .... Long story short, it was a beautiful 11 mile ride out, cutting between islands, and the mile-long island provided us a warm welcome. Cabins, sauna, lake, rocky shore, fire ... we did some cleaning up, construction, and trail maintenance so that the site can be revived into a Center for Science and Leadership. I hadn't even realized, but we were part of the 10-10-10 save-the-planet work party. See: http://www.hurricaneisland.net/Hurricane_Island_Foundation/HIF.html.

Back at the bakery, I still wanted to help out, because clearly they are doing good and important work here. I got into a project painting the front, and have been enjoying the sunny and starry days and nights. Harvested apples and sunflower seeds yesterday. I'm eating lots of bread. And they have a fender Rhodes here, so I've been happily playing that. Last night I sat in on a band practice, and it was a blast. Lots of reggae and uplifting stuff. There's a show Sunday, so it looks like I'm staying on around here (woo!) until then, so I can play. I'll get a ride in a car to the wedding in Philly with Jerod/Ruthie/baby Gabriel, who are going to VA. So the biking portion of my bicycling trip has been put on hold! I imagine I'll get back at it from PA, and head to MA or who knows where. It is pretty icy up here at night now, but hopefully some southern exposure will change things. But I'm feeling totally lost in the sweet and warm welcome of the good heart warriors of Tinder Hearth.

That's the update, more later. Pictures some day, perhaps, but don't hold your breath! Generally, I'm feeling great and loving the world - overwhelmed at how much good there is around us. Peace, t.